Iran Press/ Middle East: A report by a Palestinian human rights centre revealed that Israeli forces have killed at least 54 Palestinian children and arrested over 900 others since the beginning of 2018.
The human rights centre reported that 80 percent of the children were killed during demonstrations in the so-called buffer zone in the Gaza strip, Albawaba news agency reported.
The report also condemned what it described as Israel’s systematic violation of Palestinian children’s rights.
According to the group’s investigation, conducted by the Palestinian Centre for Study and Documentation, Israel's rights violations are not limited to trial of children in military courts, but it starts from the moment of arrest.
The report said Israelis carry out interrogation sessions in which children are often handcuffed, blindfolded, beaten and insulted.
The latest child victim, from Khan Yunis in southern Gaza, was only four years old.
Since the beginning of 2018, more than 310 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces, almost all unarmed civilians, the report added.
The report almost confirms an earlier toll announced by renowned children rights NGO Defense for Children International – Palestine, which said last month the Israeli military forces had shot and martyred more than 50 Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip so far this year.
In late October, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) said the occupying Israeli army “has been deliberately targeting and killing Palestinian children.”
"This is a clear war crime in violation of international law and international humanitarian law,” Hanan Ashrawi, a member of the PLO's executive committee, said on Oct. 29.
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“Israel's continuous campaign of excessive and indiscriminate violence against the people of Gaza has persisted with impunity and has been emboldened by the US administration's strategic alliance with Israel,” she added.
The Gaza clashes reached their peak on May 14, on the eve of the 70th anniversary of Nakba Day (Day of Catastrophe), which coincided this year with the US embassy relocation from Tel Aviv to occupied East Jerusalem al-Quds.
Figures show that more than 2,100 Palestinian children have been martyred and over 13,000 wounded by Israeli live bullets since the outbreak of al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000.
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